Jon Hopkins - Singularity (Virgin Vinyl)

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Jon Hopkins - Singularity (Virgin Vinyl)

“Jon Hopkins is playing God. That much is clear as soon as “Singularity,” the lead and title song on his first album since 2013’s Mercury Prize-nominated Immunity, shivers into being. A ferrous wasteland of synthesizer overhung by evaporated strings and guitar merge into a remarkably complete sonic landscape — the land and sky of a new world, with its own alien physics, its own genesis and apocalypse. Hopkins keeps hanging these strange planets in wobbly orbits throughout Singularity, forming a universe that pulses with deep consciousness and a sense of endless discovery.” – Pitchfork

"Details are where this album is most rewarding: every moment is deeply considered. Hopkins intended for it to be heard in one go, and there’s every reason for listeners to set aside an hour and let themselves be carried off into his mesmerising world. ‘Feel First Life’ comes close to a religious experience by harnessing the transcendent power of sacred choral music (Hopkins trained at the Royal College of Music as a teen). Then there’s the warm come-down of piano tracks such as ‘Echo Dissolve’ and ‘Recovery’, which he recorded on two separate pianos – a grand and an upright – and cut together to combine their timbres. The former, something like Nils Frahm’s ‘Felt’, is so intimate that you can almost hear the keys brushing against one another as they’re pressed." - NME

"In a way, Singularity is the ultimate Jon Hopkins album. It's the one he's wanted to make for the last 15 years, but couldn't until now. The album's big ideas and granular techniques combine in ways that few other artists could imagine, let alone execute. Singularity is often extraordinary; when it's not, its flaws seem to stem from a pursuit of every impulse. The sky is no limit. Immunity, on the other hand, existed within walls, which were to its benefit. Hopkins imagined the album in part as an MDMA-fuelled night out and the comedown that might follow. After the tense highs of "Collider" came the dawn quiet of "Abandon Window." A comparable transition on Singularity, between "Everything Connected" and "Feel First Life," is made to feel seamless, less like a change in circumstance than an ascent onto some higher plane. Some will feel completely immersed in that; others might simply admire it from a distance." – Resident Advisor